Rugelach/Aunt Marie’s Cheese Horns

Rugelach / Cheese Horns

Aunt Marie (Korzin Winiarski) was my mom’s older sister. Mom had 5 brothers and 5 sisters. She was also the middle child. I won’t analyze that. My grandmother did not make many desserts, but her daughters learned to.

Aunt Marie was a wonderful baker. At our large family gatherings she was known for these cookies we called Cheese Horns. The dough is not sweet and is made with cottage cheese. It wasn’t till recent years that I learned these were a form of Rugelach, a rolled cookie made with cream cheese or cottage cheese and filled with a variety of sugar, nuts and dried fruits or poppy seed paste, jam or chocolate. It is a Jewish Eastern European cookie which means little twist or little corners. I’ve seen much more complex recipes than this one. Mine is easy and pretty and not exceptionally sweet.

Rugelach, ready to go!

Ingredients

1 cup butter, softened

8 ounces cottage cheese

2 cups flour

1/4-1/2 cup melted butter

1/2-1 cup brown sugar

1/2-1 cup chopped pecans

1/2-1 cup chopped dried cherries, optional

Cinnamon, optional

1 egg yolk and 1 tablespoon water

Rugelach Dough

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 F

2. In a mixer beat butter till fluffy. Add cottage cheese and mix till combined

3. Mix in flour. Chill until ready to use

4. Prepare work space with flour or a floured pastry cloth

5. Divide pastry into 3-4 rounds, depending on how small you want to make the cookies. More rounds for smaller cookies.

Rugelach Dough Round

Foley pastry cloth, covered rolling pin, covered with sifted flour

8. Brush entire surface with melted butter

• Sprinkle with dark brown sugar
• Sprinkle with chopped pecans and cherries
• Sprinkle with cinnamon

Melted butter, brown sugar & chopped pecans

Cut into pie shaped segments

Roll Rugelach into horn shapes

• Place small end down on a parchment covered baking sheet.
• Brush entire surface with a mixture of 1 egg yolk and 1 tablespoon water.

Brush Rugelach with egg yolk wash

11. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes or until just turning lightly browned. Cool on wire racks.

12. I often double this recipe. When brushing on the egg wash make sure you start with a fresh egg and water half way through brushing the 2 batches of cookies

Voila!